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Sodium

03/17/2011

Would you be surprised if I told you that people that die from too much sodium intake are killing as many as Americans as smoking?

I wish this woman spoke a little faster but this is coming from the VOA special English channel. If you can bare through the slow talk, It does give great statistics with heart disease and heart attacks with cutting back on sodium in your eating habits.

That four-minute video could have been consolidated in two minutes. Sorry about that, just trying to get the word out.

"If everybody were to lower their salt intake by just 1200 milligrams a day, America would see a 100,000 fewer deaths a year." say's Dr. Beckerman, a cardiologist at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. article

03/16/2011

With all the salt products in the store how on earth can you tell which one is the best for you?

First you should know that your blood actually contains 0.9% salt which will maintain the balance of sodium in your body.

Take it from the savvy vegetarian who say's "natural salt was “chemically cleaned” and reduced to the combination of sodium and chloride. Essential minerals and trace elements were removed as impurities. However, sodium chloride is an unnatural, isolated, unwholesome substance having nothing in common with salt." website

It crushes easily between the fingers and dissolves quickly. Your body is able to digest it quickly since there are no additives. Without any additives and being in it's natural element health practitioners are convinced that it can actually imporve your health.

There are many types of salts on the market. But did you know that some salts are better than others? I'm not going to go in grave details regarding salt this week but tomorrow I will recommend the salt I love and use on my food.

03/14/2011

Sodium helps maintain the fluid volume in our blood cells, regulates blood pressure and helps maintain a pH balance. Sodium is used to transmit information in our nerves and muscles to maintain uptake of certain nutrients from our small intestines. website

The daily dose of sodium is as follows.

1-3 years 1.0g per day (1000mg)

4-8 years 1.2 per day (1200mg)

9-50 years 1.5g per day (1500mg)

51-70 years 1.3g per day (1300mg)

71+ years 1.2g per day (1200mg)

Ultra-endurance athletes can lose 1-2g of salt per liter of sweat at one time. Just imagine if you are running a 6-hour race. They are sweating out huge amounts of sodium and need to replenish their body fast! website

" American dietary practices cause the average person to carry 8000 mg. Excess sodium in the extracellular tissues. During endurance events, 3-4 hours are necessary to deplete the "excess" of this mineral. Deficiency may begin to occur after 4 hours, which may produce symptoms of abnormal heartbeat, muscle twitching, and hypoventilation. However, if sodium is replaced at the same rate as depletion it overrides all the mechanisms involving Aldosterone, a hormone that causes the body to conserve electrolytes... We highly recommend the use of 120-240 mg/hr of sodium against a rate of loss ranging from 1800-3500 mg. per hour."